Gas tax repeal would strip California lawmakers' ability to pass increases
Critics of California’s recently approved fuel tax increase and vehicle license fee hike filed a constitutional amendment Thursday for the 2018 ballot to overturn the taxes and take away lawmakers’ ability to pass future increases without a statewide vote.
“Sacramento politicians really crossed the line with these massive car and gas tax hikes and we intend to give taxpayers the chance to reverse that decision with this initiative,” Carl DeMaio, chairman of the coalition Reform California and a former San Diego councilman, said in a statement.
Separately, DeMaio is involved in a pending recall attempt of Democratic state Sen. Josh Newman, a freshman lawmaker from Orange County, for his vote earlier this year on Senate Bill 1, the tax and fee increase to raise some $52 billion over a decade to pay for aging roads and transit systems.
The group collected more than 100,000 signatures to force the recall. Reform California must gather about 580,000 signatures to qualify a ballot measure that would prevent the Democratic-controlled Legislature from passing a fuel tax increase without a vote of the people.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article173375136.html
